Friends, Flirtation and the Fantastic
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: The TARDIS is pretty full. The Doctor, Rose, Martha, Donna and Jack are all aboard for a non-canonical series of near-misses and stolen kisses that should have been. Ten/Rose.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: For the purposes of this fic, the Doctor, Rose, Martha, Donna and Jack are all travelling together. Which means that Doomsday didn't happen, the Doctor and Rose met Martha, who started travelling with them, then they got Jack back after defeating the Master together, then they met Donna and she began travelling with them too. Jackie Tyler is still living on the Powell Estate in this universe, but Mickey is still in Pete's World._

::

_**Friends, Flirtation and the Fantastic**_

"Rose Tyler, are you _deducting_ again?" smirked the Doctor, leaning towards her, his hands in his pockets.

She flashed him a grin, front teeth biting her bottom lip slightly, then replied, "I think I am."

Jack silently stared at them both, his heart beating rapidly inside his chest in anticipation.

"You are so very, very good at it," the Time Lord added.

Rose arched an eyebrow and leant in closer. "Am I?"

The Doctor's eyes twinkled dangerously at her. "Oh yes," he assured her. One hand left his trouser pocket to reach behind her and twist a dial on the console. "In fact, I'd say you were the best deducing detective I've come across, excluding myself and Sherlock Holmes, of course."

"Naturally," giggled Rose. "Except Sherlock is just a fictional character."

The Time Lord gasped theatrically and poked her in her side. "How dare you say such things."

"But it's true," she persisted, grinning. She folded her arms, and Jack eyed the bit cleavage she'd thus put on display. From the way the Doctor's gaze slipped, he reckoned he was, too. "Sherlock Holmes is _fictional. _I, on the other hand, am very real."

"Yes," the Doctor murmured, extending his other arm forward to pull a lever on the console, effectively trapping Rose against it; though they still weren't touching.

Jack thought the air between his two friends was practically tingling with electric, sexual tension. He also thought he would seriously spontaneously combust if they'd just bloody well _touch _already.

"Yes, you are," the Time Lord continued, his voice sounding a little rough.

Rose placed her hands on the Doctor's shoulders. Jack's breath hitched hopefully.

And then she pushed the Doctor back, towards the console screen, peering at it with him thoughtfully. "So how do you think the Kreptonsi got there, then?" she asked, in a perfectly normal and un-aroused voice.

Jack was incensed.

"Will you two just bloody have sex and get it over with?" Jack exclaimed.

The Doctor and Rose turned around and blinked at him innocently. "Why on Earth would we do that?" the Time Lord asked him curiously.

"Jack, we're just friends," reasoned Rose, looking at him like he was insane.

Jack let out a little scream of frustration and left the room in a huff.

The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other and both snorted with repressed laughter.

"One of these days we're going to have to put him out of his misery, you know," the Doctor mused, leaning against the console.

Rose stepped up to him, looping her arms around his neck and smiling up at him enticingly. "More fun, though, don't you think? The risk of getting caught..." she whispered. Utterly unable to resist, the Doctor grinned back at her and leant forward, brushing his lips against hers.

Her hands wound into his hair and he surrendered control of the kiss to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and holding her against him. They didn't pause for breath until the Doctor heard Donna whistling as she walked down the corridor; he and Rose abruptly sprang apart and smoothed themselves down, before adopting a completely nonchalant pose and engaging in a random topic of conversation, effortlessly avoiding suspicion.

"So, yeah, the Kreptonsi probably caught wind of the plan and set course for Xereo's nearest moon," explained the Doctor.

"Ah, I see," replied Rose.

Donna stepped into the room. "Do you two want a cuppa?"

"Ooh, yes please Donna, that'd be lovely," answered the Doctor, and Rose nodded in agreement.

Donna tilted her head, noticing his ruffled hair. "Cor, didn't think I'd ever see a day where you'd forget to style your hair, Doctor," she said.

Rose glanced up at it and laughed. "Yeah, Doctor. Forget to be vain today?" She raised an eyebrow and the Doctor frowned, glancing at the console screen, trying to ascertain the state of his hair in his reflection. "Don't worry," Rose added. "The just-got-out-of-bed look suits you." Donna snorted in amusement and went to make the tea.

The Doctor span back around and seized Rose around the waist, pushing her onto the jumpseat. "You messed my hair up," he accused.

"And you _love it," _she countered smugly.

He gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah, maybe." He leant in to resume their snogging, but Rose pushed him back and stood up. The Doctor pouted.

"Come on, let's go find Martha and Jack so we can all have tea with Donna." She grinned. "Like a proper group of travelling friends." She sighed happily. "It's like a second family."

He huffed but acquiesced. "Okay. But then we're taking those three somewhere with clubs and shops so that we can get ourselves lost and continue this, alright?" He gestured between them to indicate what, exactly, he meant for the two of them to continue.

"Sounds good," Rose replied, and they shared a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

::

_One Week Later_

All five of them were invited to a banquet in their honour on the planet Eleep, after they'd saved it from an atmospheric disaster. They sat down at the long, decorated table; the Emperor of the province at the very head of the table, with the Doctor to his right and Jack to his left. Martha was seated beside Jack, and Rose beside the Doctor, and Donna had swapped her seat to be closer to a prince who'd been chatting her up the whole evening, further down the table.

The food was delicious, and very plentiful. The first course alone was enough for the humans at the table, though of course, the Doctor encouraged them to try a bit of everything so as not to offend their hosts.

Dessert was especially nice. The Doctor knew Rose thought so, because she was making these tiny little moan-y sounds of delight under her breath as she spooned the chocolate mixture into her mouth. It was quite inspiring. Beneath the table, the Doctor rested his hand on her thigh, and for as long as he could get away with without looking suspicious, he left it there, his thumb delicately stroking her knee. She shivered once, but otherwise did not indicate anything untoward. That was, until the Doctor leaned in to whisper something in her ear, and she dropped her spoon with a clatter. Everyone paused in their conversations to look in her direction.

The Doctor quickly removed his hand in case anyone could spot its position on her knee. Rose was blushing crimson, but she stuttered something out about how she was really quite full and couldn't eat another spoonful. The amiable chatter recommenced in the room, and all but two people redirected their attention from her.

The two who did not were the Doctor, obviously, and Martha, not so obviously. The former was smirking at Rose in delight at having made her so flustered, and Rose was glaring daggers at him. Martha, however, was staring at them both with a frown on her face. She'd been watching them for a while, actually, and so had seen the Doctor whisper something to her beforehand. She leant forwards and murmured to Rose, "What's the joke, then?"

Rose turned her head to look at her with wide eyes.

"I saw the Doctor tell you something," Martha clarified, watching them share a look that was clearly child-caught-with-hand-in-biscuit-tin. She glanced at the Emperor, who Jack was flirting with quite successfully. "Is it about him?"

"I...um...well," Rose muttered.

Thankfully, the Doctor – always good at improvisation – jumped in and told her quietly, "I was just telling Rose that even _Jack _might be surprised at what the Emperor here likes to do." He waggled his eyebrows. "Interesting customs they've got here for mating rituals."

Rose giggled into her hand and Martha's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Okay. Too much information, I think," Martha mumbled. No wonder Rose had been blushing, she thought.

The Doctor, meanwhile, let out a breath of relief; only to tense up again two seconds later. He decided that next time they were at a banquet where royalty, strangers, and their closest friends were in attendance, he'd better not whisper to Rose about the things he was going to do to her once they'd got back to the TARDIS. It simply generated too many questions which required too many lies. Also, by the new placement of Rose's hand upon his person, the Doctor reckoned such things provoked his pink and yellow girl to enact sweet revenge.

He couldn't wait for the banquet to be over.


	3. Chapter 3

::

The Doctor would never tell her this, but he was glad that they often came to stay with Jackie for a handful of days at a time. It meant that he and Rose could spend their time doing, well, alright...admittedly _domestic _things - but those things were often quite fun, really, seeing as they were a novelty to them. Like washing up, for instance. They had their little routine – Jackie would cook, then Rose would clear up the plates and take them to the kitchen, then the Doctor would go: "Right, I'll go help her;" and then an unsuspecting Jackie would be left snoozing on the sofa in front of the telly waiting for _Emmerdale_ to come on, and the Doctor and Rose would race to get the dishes washed, dried and put away so that they could spend ten minutes snogging against the kitchen counter.

All in all, the Doctor thought the domesticities worth it, when it meant he could kiss Rose without worrying about Martha, Donna or Jack walking in on them. The risk of Jackie seeing them was minimal, because after seven o'clock she was glued to her soaps, and wouldn't even notice if Elvis turned up and sat down next to her. The Doctor almost wanted to test that theory out, actually, and part of him briefly pondered going to pick up Elvis and bringing him here for that very purpose. But then Rose tugged him to her room by his tie and he forgot about Elvis, all thoughts refocusing to be centred around her.

Anyway, point was, when he and Rose were at Jackie's, it was essentially just the two of them, during the day at least, when Jackie was either shopping or working. Just like the old days, before Martha and Jack and Donna started travelling with them. Except not at all like the old days, because they were _together _now as opposed to just holding hands and, well, dreaming about being together.

And he secretly enjoyed the hiding under Rose's bed thing he had to do every morning, so that her mum didn't realise they were sleeping together. It was good practice for when they had to be deathly quiet whilst hiding from rampaging aliens.

Not that he was calling Rose's mother a rampaging alien.

Although, if the shoe fits –

Nah. He liked her really. A little bit. Maybe. She was usually quite nice to him these days, which was good.

However, one particular morning, he'd heard Jackie come into Rose's room and say - whilst he was hiding under the bed - "Rose, seeing as him and you act really close, I'm surprised he hasn't tried anything on with you. You know. _Sexually._"

He'd had to bite his hand to keep from laughing, especially when Rose responded in a high-pitched voice, "_Mum!"_

"What?" Jackie had said defensively. "I'm just saying, Rose. You dunno what his sort are like."

"Mum, I'm sure he's got purely honourable intentions surrounding me."

"Yeah, well, I'm warning you, young lady: if I hear he's so much as touched you a bit inappropriately, I'll make him wish he'd never been born."

And that was when his idea of telling Rose's mum they were a couple was blown out of the water, and why they were both now a bit paranoid about her finding out.

Still. The probably unnecessary risks they took (like the shagging in Jackie's flat thing) just made their relationship more exciting, so they weren't exactly going to stop.


End file.
